I don't know if I should admit this publicly, but since we got luggage for Christmas, I have them out on the dining room table and lists already going!
No, you should not admit it publicly . . . We are going to give you the honorary LbGraves award for early packing for this cruise!
You know, part of me still wants the machine. It's kind of like a securty blanket for me. My sleep apnea was one of the worst cases my Dr. had ever seen. I would stop breathing over 300 time per night. That's scary. So I kind of have it in my head that if I dont have the machine...well it would not be a good thing. If you know what I mean.
I missed all the apnea talk this afternoon - another Cpap'er checking in here . . . what everyone told you Monica is very accurate. No pain involved in the sleep study, but I cannot tell you that I was comfortable. Mine was supposed to go until 6:00 am - at 4:00 am I just could NOT go back to sleep all trussed up with wires like the Griswold's holiday light display, and I asked the nurse if I could stop it then. She said, oh yeah, one of the worst I've seen in a long time.
Amy made me go, because she could not sleep - my constant snoring, and my stopping of breathing really had her worried. I finally decided to do it (this was in 2000) when I found myself nodding off while driving. Sophia had just been born, and I would literally come home from work at night, hold her in my arms while watching TV, and fall asleep by 7:00. I actually got the machine before our first
Disney cruise, and took it with me.
Of course, I thought I was sleeping OK, but could not figure out why I was so tired. I too had forgotten what dreams were like. With my cpap now, I sleep like a baby, and need only Six hours max sleep a night to feel great. Many nights I am up until 12 and I get up at 6 for work. Sleeping in for me is anything over seven hours now, and I am never tired during the day. I never nap now during the day, and on the rare occasions where I have been so tired to fall asleep in a chair, I actually get a headache without my machine.
I also use headgear with nose pillows - it would be impossible for me to get a seal with a mask with my mustache. I used to have one that was hard plastic that was always breaking. Now I have one that is straps and velcro over your head, works great other than the bad cow lick it does to my hair some times. The best part is this one allows you to easily sleep on your side or your stomach with your head turned.
Both Amy and I sleep better now.
Make sure too that you ask for the most compact machine they can give you. My first one was pretty big, and a pain to haul on trips. My current one is about 1/3 of the size of the first one, and very light and easy to pack - even with the humidifier.
Losing weight does improve the condition - when I was down 40lbs I was MUCH better.
I just went out tonight and bought us an elliptical machine at Sears. The Nordictrac 990 that Sears had on sale, and consumer reports rated as a
best buy in their newest issue. I had stopped using the treadmill we have because of knee issues, so this too should motivate me to get my butt in gear. I will pick it up this weekend when Alex is home - it weighs almost as much as me!
I also did 2 miles on the bike last night...got to keep that momentum going! I know I won't be able to do the bike tomorrow night as I'm scheduled for my overnight sleep study...won't be able to DIS either
Fast pass strategy might be needed. I can do that! We went in July 2006, with lots of crowds and by late afternoon we had fastpasses for all the rides we wanted to do and just went riding! DSIL was
as it was his first time there and he really wanted to do it ALL!
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